Hearts of Mist
by WingedClover
Summary: The Kaguya Clan met their end at a small village during a raid gone wrong. Haku and Kimimaro survived and were raised together as orphans. Eventually, they were placed into a team with Chojuro and Suigetsu. Now they will strive to replace the Seven Ninja Swordsmen, make their fellow villagers proud and strengthen the Hidden Mist.
1. Enter: Team Chojuro!

**Prologue:**

Eight years ago a blood thirsty clan arose in the Land of Water. The Kaguya Clan terrorized slaughtered and raided many villages. In one battle, many shinobi died and a small village was destroyed in order to defeat the dreaded clan. There was only one prisoner left alive from the clan and one survivor from the village: two boys named Haku and Kimimaro. Both of them were found by a young kunoichi known as Mei Terumi. They were both taken in to become Mist ninja.

As time progressed, they became part of a team with a young man named Suigetsu and would later be placed under the guidance of Chojuro, the newest addition to the Seven Swordsman of the Mist. The four boys were considered as the pride of Kirigakure.

* * *

 **Present(2 Years Prior to Part I):**

Haku, Kimimaro and team leader Chojuro were welcomed into the Hozuki Residence by their teammate Suigetsu. "Why did you ask for us to meet here?" Kimimaro raised an eyebrow. The bloodthirsty genin frowned, "Zabuza wants us to assist in a coup d'etat. We'll be killed if we contact any other jonin."

"Don't worry, i'll kill Momochi and we'll finish off all of his rebels." the Kaguya smiled.

The aforementioned shinobi swordsman had appeared with a kunai right against Kimimaro's throat, "Think a-argh!"

Momochi was interrupted by bones getting hooked into his body that protruded from his captive's scapula, ribs and vertebral column. While distracted in pain, a blob of water formed around his head. Zabuza slit his "captive's" throat, but all he cut was skin and something else.

"This is the price you pay for betraying the Mist." Chojuro quipped

The bone ninja turned his head, "I anticipated your attack from behind a formed a strong veil of bone under my skin."

"Your first mistake was assuming that we would betray our comrades." Haku gloated.

The Hozuki clansman's face formed on the blob behind his head with a wide grin, "The second mistake was thinking I wouldn't want your sword for myself."

Zabuza Momochi died bleeding out and drowning at the hands of the genin.

* * *

Haku froze the body and Suigetsu took the sword, the boys rushed to the Mizukage Residence to warn their leader. Once the Mizukage and his trusted guards were alerted, most of the rebellious shinobi that followed Zabuza were subsequently hunted down with the exception of the remaining traitorous swordsmen. After, everything was settled the head ninja called the four genin to the room.

Lord Yagura was smiling on this odd occasion, "All of you have done a great service for your village and have earned my full trust with unlike Zabuza and the others. They have left us with only three swords and two swordsmen that are loyal. I would like for you all to participate in the Chunin Exams. But before that, you'll have to investigate the rampages along the coastline. Supposedly it has something to do with a man known as 'Jugo of the Scales'. The mission was originally going to be assigned to Zabuza but you boys cut him down. It's only fitting you all do this mission together. Now you may leave my sight."

"Yes, Lord Mizukage." The boys bowed and left.

* * *

Once they were outside, the genin were approached by their teacher, Mei Terumi, "Great job team. I'm so proud of you boys but you should've alerted me as soon as possible."

"Don't worry. We've learned how to manage on our own sensei!" Suigetsu smiled, "I'm just happy to be rewarded with his sword."

 _"Marriage?"_ Their sensei thought to herself.

Haku added, "Besides, alerting you would've created greater risk of failure in getting caught."

"Failure in marriage..." Mei mumbled to herself aloud.

"Is everything oka-" Suigetsu could not finish due to his head being slapped into a splash of water by their sensei.

The boys bowed, "Sorry ma'am."

"You're excused. I'll see you all when you get back from your mission." Mei walked away.

"C'mon guys. You know she's insecure about marriage. Especially, at her age and all. Try to take a hint next time." Kimimaro advised.

* * *

Team Chojuro immediately left the village soon after and approached the cave that was reported to be Jugo's hideout. But as they got close to the entrance, they felt a strong killing intent. They turned around to see a pale man with dark long black hair and yellow eyes.

The man introduced himself, "Good evening, boys. My name is Orochimaru. What are yours?"


	2. Sound Village Invasion

The four young shinobi felt the strange man's raw killing intent and pictured their own gruesome deaths right before them. Kimimaro quickly regained his composure and bowed before the pale ninja, "Orochimaru, you are a missing-nin from the Leaf Village who started the Hidden Sound. You are in a league of your own and we despise our Mizukage. Would you .. let us join you in order to get stronger?"

"Such a straightforward guy. What do you have to offer?" the Sound Head's lips slithered into a frightening grin.

As the Kaguya clansmen stood back up, all four boys glared at Orochimaru and expressed their own raw killing intent. The Sannin stepped back as he felt an individual death from each boy and a final death from their combined thirst for blood.

"I am Kimimaro of the Kaguya. I can manipulate my bone structure. Haku can use ice release because he is part of the Yuki clan. Suigetsu can become water and wields one of the Seven Swords of the Mist. Chojuro wields another one as well."

"We're just going to roll over to him? You're shitting me?" Suigetsu piped in, "I want to kill something."

"It's the smartest decision. Right, captain?" Kimimaro stared at the awkward leader.

"Ah, yes... a good decision, Kimimaro." Chojuro's looked away.

"Well then, show me your skills against Jugo and capture him." Orochimaru's grin grew even more.

"Wait, Lord Orochimaru. Haku needs to report that we'll take a while in order delay being classified as missing-nin. Hunter-nin will be on our tracks, if we don't report in due to the long duration of this trip." Kimimaro added.

"Fine, then. Haku may go and then catch up with us."

The masked boy nodded and rushed off to the village in a hurry.

Back at the cave, the frenzied Jugo had been easily subdued by Kimimaro's bones.

 _Utterly amazing... this boy could have caught me by surprise with this awesome kekkei genkai._ Orochimaru thought to himself.

"Hey, Jugo. I am Kimimaro and these are my friends. If you follow us, we'll become good friends and you can learn to control your power." the bone ninja smiled.

Jugo's jaw dropped, "R-really?"

"Yes."

"Thank you."

Once Haku rejoined the group, they were on their way to Otogakure. A week had passed when they had finally gotten close to the Sound Village's main hideout. Orochimaru, had constantly talked with them about special abilities and jutsu.

"You boys will challenge my Sound Five. Although, they may win based upon their summoning techniques that work well with their fighting style if things go for an extended period of time." the snake man mused.

"We'll just cut them down before they can use summons. Hell, maybe I can use my own summon." Suigetsu chimed in.

"I love it. We'll go to a field near the base once my right-hand man joins us. I'll have him bring them to us." the snake man licked his lips.

Once they arrived at the field. Suigetsu summoned a giant clam, but it was obscured by smoke and mist. The water ninja then followed up with his water dragon jutsu to get them moving.

As they dodged, Kimimaro came from the side and knocked four of the Sound Five out quickly as they dodged both the water dragon and illusions of the Mist Ninja, the fifth member blocked his attack. The Lone Sound Ninja countered and broke the thin layer of bone as well as the Kaguya's ulna with one chop.

"Hg. Impressive. I can fix that bone quickly. My name is Kimimaro Kaguya." the silver haired boy introduced himself.

"Genyumaru." the sound ninja muttered.

Kimimaro rushed him and knocked him out cold with a hardened headbutt, "Nice to meet you."

Orochimaru quickly came to the battlefield as soon as the summon ended. "I wish you boys would've showed off your techniques without the mist. But it was a good strategy against them."

As the two remaining sound ninja got within range, ice mirrors formed around them, twenty-one in total. Haku stepped into the mirror with a bone-knife in his left hand.

Kimimaro ran to his two opponents and performed his Dance of the Camelia. He made a bone sword and assaulted the two Sound Heads. Both of them blocked the initial array of irregular stabs, but the Kaguya managed to wound them get them open for Haku. The ice user decapitated their heads and ended his _Demonic Ice Mirrors_ jutsu.

As the technique ended, a giant snake erupted from Orochimaru's headless body.

"You will pay for this!" the snake monster charged.

Chojuro and Suigetsu sliced through the monsterin unison with their swords. Separating the head and upper half from the rest of the body.

"Jugo." Kimimaro called out.

"On it!" the orange haired giant crushed Orochimaru's head with his transformed arm.

"Shit. That went way too smoothly. Are you sure that's the real one?" Suigetsu gripped his sword tight.

"The blood... It's paralyzing.. must be the air.." Chojuro muttered.

Everyone was paralyzed, barring Haku. Luckily, the paralysis was only temporary with no other side effects, but the Sound Five started waking up before the ice ninja could tend to his teammates.

"What the hell did you do to Lord Orochimaru?" Tayuya demanded.

"We killed him and we have enough strength to kill all of you." Haku bluffed.

"None of us want to fight you again. We actually want you Sound villagers to join us. The Mist Village needs powerful bloodlines and ninja like you." Kimimaro strained to stand.

"I'll join." Genyumaru smiled as the other Sound Ninja turned in confusion.

"You wanna join these asswipes?" Tayuya pointed at them.

"Yeah. My clan need this and so do I. What would be the point in staying here anyways now that Orochimaru's gone? You guys might as well just join the Mist Village."

The Sound Four all looked at each other, "Fine."

The backup came sixteen minutes later. It was Ao, Chukichi, Mei and several other jonin.

"Mission report!" Ao ordered.

"We have killed Orochimaru and his right hand man. His strongest followers, the Sound Five are willing to join us and there are more clans or ninja that may be willing, sir." Haku reported.

"Alright then, we'll search the bases and gather as much information as possible. Afterwards, we'll leave for Kirigakure."


	3. Return to the Mist

After clearing the entire base Ao approached the young shinobi, "It appears that us Hunter-nin and black ops have a new mission. This country's Fuma Clan has been declining and has been in negotiations to join the Hidden Sound out of desperation, but Orochimaru, was manipulating their failings from afar. We'll continue operations here and recruit them while you bring these other shinobi to Kiri."

"Shit! When do we get to do some killing!? Kimimaro's been doing all of the fun stuff and my skills are getting rusty." Suigetsu kicked the dirt.

Ao sighed, "You're already killing my time enough as it is, Hozuki. But I will inform all of you that upon arrival, your must prepare yourselves for our first Chunin Exams. Dismissed."

As their senior left, the young shinobi started guiding the new additions back to the Sound Village.

* * *

Genyumaru turned to Suigetsu, "Why would your village announce a chunin exam at this time?"

The Hozuki clansmen's grimace contorted and widened in response, "Everyone gets to prove themselves by killing each other. Kimimaro and Haku can earn their clans' a high status among the elite of the village, while me and Chojuro can kill something with our swords for once."

"What are all of your specialties?"

"Chojuro might be a shy bastard, but he is my rival. His sword can split in two and paralyze you. Then only other loyal swordsman is this crazy woman, Ameyuri and she's the only female member of the seven swordsman for a damn good reason. The only other girl of worthy note is Chojuro's friend, Misuno. She's a prodigy and will probably kill you so she can become a jonin."

"Wait, what about that masked girl over there?"

Suigetsu chuckled, "Haku is a pretty boy, but not a girl. He's fast enough to blindside anyone that isn't a jonin and trained with the hunter-nin, so he can track you, kill you and dispose of your body if you wanted to make a run for it."

"And the tall guy with your leader?"

"Jugo's a new addition just like you guys, but I do know that fighting him close range is a death wish. Kimimaro is just a deadly and is feared by many in our village, but he isn't our leader. Chojuro is the one in charge since kekkei genkai users like Kimimaro and I aren't well trusted yet among the elite as well the majority of Kiri."

"Who is the strongest Chojuro, Jugo or Kimimaro?"

Suigetsu turned his head and expressed his killing intent to everyone in the vicinity, "None of us have actually fought each other seriously, but the one you should fear the most is **me** , Suigetsu Hozuki. I am a future Swordsman of the Mist and have a powerful kekkei genkai. My ability is turn my body into water, therefore, you can't even hit me using regular attacks. I will kill any of my opponents if they don't put up a good enough fight."

Genyumaru grinned back, "I'm already on your level. I'll surpass you by the time the exams start."

A blue haired girl appeared alongside a redhaired girl with glasses, "My comrade Karin and I have a problem with that. I am Guren of the Crystal Release, you killed my master, prepare to die."

Kimimaro stepped forward, "We have already killed your master. You can either join the Mist or fall before me."

"A child could not kill Lord Orochimaru. You will die for blaspheming!"

Guren and Karin charged forward, but were stopped by the intense wave of murderous intent that challenged the darkness of their leader. The young man, kept walking towards them as they were frozen in fear. The blue haired kunoichi finally managed to raised her kunai and stabbed him.

Kimimaro was unfazed and the kunai only pierced skin and was stopped by a layer of bone, "You can attempt to kill me at the exams. Right now you lack a use, become a part of the Mist and become a splendid ninja ... or die here. I doubt your crystals could overcome my bone, Haku's ice, Chojuro's blade, Jugo's strength, Gen's talent or Suigetsu's ruthlessness all together, let alone individually."

Guren stepped back, "Fine. We'll finish you at the exams."

As everyone continued to move forward, Suigetsu laughed, "This keeps on getting more and more interesting. How much longer until we get back home?"

Chojuro smiled, "A week since we don't have to stay low like with Orochimaru."

"Great, i'm going to have fun cutting all of you down. Especially, Kimimaro, the bastard keeps stealing my thunder"

Chojuro showed his sharpened teeth with his own grimace to his fellow swordsman, "Not if I don't cut you down first."


End file.
